Dear, some of my things are still lying at your place. A few rain lashed days and perhaps in one of my letters Lie wrapped all those nights. Forget the nights, Return the letters with rest of my things.

It is fall now, isn’t it? From that other fall, echoes of a few leaves falling From a branch, (remember that one, under which we were kissing?) I still wear like earrings. It appears that branch is still shivering. Just cut it down. And return the rest of my things.

Under my flimsy umbrella, remember after we were suddenly Caught by a storm and reached your place, half wet half dry? I think I dropped something as I dried myself then: my heart. See if you can find it next to your bed, still wet. Please return it along with rest of my things.

One hundred and sixteen moonlight nights, the line of your shoulders, The scent of wet henna on my hands, my silly complaints, All your promises, (that weren’t meant to be kept even then), These I can reprise again but I won’t. Just return my things.

…

Oh yes, what should I do with your letters? If you will permit me, I will burn them, And go to sleep, as they burn And go to sleep, as they burn.

Translations

Narrative: That night was also spent like this, it was a revolving restraunt on the 60th floor, perhaps it was at Toronto. It was very late in the evening and and they were only the two left.

When she turned her wrist to look her watch, he immediately put his hand over her wrist - how big was his hand! Both her wrists were easily spanned by that hand. When she lifted her head up and looked into his shining eyes,

Song:

His eyes seemed to say:

The color of your sky eyes, is the color of the wide skies too, and into these blues I wish to fly away.

And she said without saying:

And from this sky when the Time Bird flies away home, a blue evening descends and moon burns gently like the wick of a lamp. I too burn under your hands like the moon.

He then said without saying:

And as the incandescent moon flickers in the sky all the birds which come home to roost alone, only if they could sleep with someone else then they would see all these dreams floating by in the blue sky when they sleep in peace.

Open my hands so that I can see your viens of your wrist beat against Time like the wings of those dreaming birds.

She then said:

And since I strated wearing your hands around my wrists like bangles it is as if my blood has stopped, and times has taken off like a blue kite into the drakening sky towards you.

He then said:

Cut the sky with your glances that glitter like diamonds, and wear it as tonight's dress. And leave this dress, as blue as dusk's sky, open so that into you, I may take off and fly.

She couldn't say anything more. So she closed her blue eyes.

Translations

Her:

If we had written these silent fictions on the waters of rivers with our tears, if you had neither given the Word nor had I heard you as you spoke the Word, I wonder how it would have been....

Don't ask how my heart is tonight, for it's just my heart that had been telling these stories: that he will come soon, tomorrow and if not then the day after that. And will continue to tell these stories,so why ask it, that which still belives what it imagines!!

And as these days end, I hold my breath when a lamp extinguishes and as another lights up somewhere in the distance, as I wonder only if you had lit a lamp for me to follow to your house in the starry sky, how it would have been...

Him:

And to how many shores did I go to to find you but until my boat sank in the current midstream, I didn't find your shore. Only if had you unfurled your shore before I sank, I wonder how it would have been...

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2002:12:04 16:30 Atlanta

A translation from Gulzar's "Khaamosh sa afsaana". The movie's name is Libaas(Garnments). It never got made but neverthless Gulzar and R D Burman wove some crazy magic in this soundtrack. A classic song for every one who is a poet at heart.

A possible XMas vacation project would be to translate all of Gulzar's songs into poems although I am not 'poet' enough to take on this task!!

Translations